Many of my objections are more than likely unique to this cruise. For 7 sea days straight the seas were choppy (we had to skip Iles du Salut because it was too choppy for the tenders) and we rocked and rolled. I have been on smaller ships with choppy conditions and they just must have had better stabilizers as it wasn't nearly the problem. As to dining it was most tasty only problem was I was allergic to some additive they used every meal except breakfast. I sneezed and sneezed. Asked the Maitre De if they used MSG and he said no. I told him I was allergic to something in his kitchen and he just shrugged it off and did not even make an effort to find out what it might be. Thought that was a bad show.

The days on board were very long with very limited activities. The lectures were good but limited and often at meal times. The only "activity" to speak of was trivia and we did enjoy that (also at meal time).

As to the tours - we only took one 'optional' (Grand Etang, Cocoa Experience and Rum Sampling) and it definitely did not go as written up. It skipped the Handicraft Shopping and we did not get a tour of the Rum Factory and Museum. And we paid for it. The included tours were weak except for the ones in Santarem and Parintins, Brazil which were exceptional. Part of the problem was the options on the Islands were pretty limited. We did not take the tours in Manaus.